The sword training

The day after the improvised meeting, as it has been discussed, Jamal woke up earlier than usual and went to prepare himself for the patrol. He went out of his apartment and head to meet up with Natasha, who was already there before him at the rendezvous point, waiting for him.

" Hey. Good morning, " She greeted him cheerfully.

" Hi, how are you today? " Jamal asked.

" Honestly, I don't know. I'm very confused in my head. A mix of worry, excitement, laziness, anger, and some other feelings I'm too ashamed to reveal them to you, " she replied with too much of honesty.

Jamal smiled, " from now just focused on your anger we will start with that and then we will see about the other feelings later, " as he walked toward the direction of the barrier he waved his hand and told her " let's go, we should not lose our time ".

So they headed to the limit of the city. They made their daily check along the barrier however, since the sun was yet to rise, they noted that there was not a single person who crossed. " I thought that since they were transformed into superhumans by a mystic person, they would have no fear to come here by the night, " Jamal said, " not forgetting that according to Matteo, there should be more of them to come after us.

" It does not work like that, " Natasha started to explain to him " if you remember well the dream of Matteo, he said that when he was being chased. The men were not in their form of monsters but he said they turned out to be human. Don't also forget that we had to chase the criminals through all the city, capture them and kill them before they transformed ".

It made Jamal wondering, " it seems like the virus, which causes the outlaws to transform, acts like a bomb which needs someone to activate it ".

Natasha nodded " Yes, and even if we decide to not kill them to avoid their transformation in their human condition they would still want to fight us. So in both cases, we are trapped. That fucking mysterious shadow played well, we are in total checkmate ".

" That what this fucking mysterious guy surely thinks, but there is something he didn't take into consideration, " Jamal paused, smiled, and pointed his finger towards Natasha, " You. He miscalculated that there would be someone able to kill definitively his indestructible minions ".

" But don't you think at this time he must already know about me? " Natasha replied a little perplexed.

Jamal shook his head, " it doesn't matter whether he knows or not, the crucial point is that you are actually the irregular variable which will cause him to lose, the factor which may end up all his plans ".

Natasha after she considered his words, her face became gloomy, her voice was low and hesitant when she asked him " do you really think I can do it? I mean... you put all your hopes on me without being very sure that I'm able to do it ".

" We do, " he replied immediately " everyone among us doesn't doubt about your capacities. We know you that is why we all trust you, " he stepped toward her " I know that lately I've been a little too hard with you lately but being my best student, you should not ask yourself whether you would be able to achieve it, you should instead ask yourself how you would achieve it ".

Natasha didn't have any reaction, so Jamal got an idea. He went to stand in front of her and told her " well, summon your katana right now ".

She was a bit confused however she didn't object and obeyed. She pulled out her little knife, held it in her two hands, and tried to transform it into the katana. However it did not work, she concentrated more but there was still no reaction, the flames refused to appear, even after she tried again and again for more than one minute.

She lifted her head and looked at Jamal her eyes full of worries. " I don't know what happens... it doesn't work. I don't why ". Jamal's expression was even more surprising, he smiled as if he had already predicted that situation and told her, " it is simple, the sword itself refuses to appear in your hands, it refuses to obey to you. You know why? Because your heart is full of doubt and a warrior whose heart is full of indecision could never be able to hold a katana. That is how noble this weapon is, it is more than a simple weapon, it is one of the symbols of bravery and determination. Those were the feelings you had that day you saved my life, that is why the sword came at you for the first time ".

Natasha closed her eyes and tried her best to throw off all the doubts and other negative feelings which were weighing on her heart, [focus on what you have to do and nothing else] she repeated to herself, and a few moments later the flames finally appeared at once after. They grew slowly along the blade, drawing the shape of the katana until it appeared completely.

She slowly opened back her eyes and discovered her habitual self through the reflection of her face on the blade, Natasha the audacious and fearless woman she used to be. She took her stance put her guard on, held the katana high, and got ready as if she was going to fight. In her eyes, Jamal could see the ferocious tiger hidden in her waking up.

" You finally came back to your senses, " Jamal said to Natasha, " how do you feel now? "

" Better, I apologize for acting so dramatically I promise you that it will never happen again, " Natasha said still holding her sword in a fighting position.

" Never mind it's not a big deal, I would even say that actually, it was beneficial for your training. Now your resolves are even stronger " He replied serenely.

He left Natasha there with her katana high forward her and moved toward the post of control. He took about five to eight minutes to reactivate all the security systems. After he finished, he headed into a room and came out three seconds later with a wooden katana in his right hand. He went out to meet up with Natasha and stood four steps before her, he held the stick high in a fighting position too at the difference that his posture was looking quite better than Natasha's.

" Shall we start then? " Jamal asked her and the latter just nodded to show that she was ready.

" Don't you think I should also use a wooden sword for the training as you do? " she asked before they started to move. Jamal looked at her and smiled, " only when you will manage to break this one ".

" But it will be too easy though, " she replied with a provocative smile, Jamal didn't stop smiling as well. He whispered, " do you really think so ".

He took support on his right leg which was his dominant member, he propelled himself ahead so quickly that Natasha had difficulty to follow him with her eyes and even with her super reflexes she was too slow to react. Jamal appeared below her guard and hit on her the left side of her abdomen and the hit was so strong that it made her fall on the ground.

" Are you still so confident about breaking this wooden stick? " he taunted her while looking at her from above.

Natasha took few seconds to take her breath, she sat on her the floor, she lifted her eyes toward him, " seems like you put all your love for me in this strike ". She realized that she said something awkward only after Jamal said while he was laughing, " watch out your mouth, you start to speak like Lina ".

She quickly hid her face behind her hands to not let Jamal see her blushing and tried to change the subject, " how can you go this fast until matching my superhuman speed? ".

" One day I will teach you," he said, avoiding to give a proper answer. Natasha remembered that he sometimes gave that kind of unclear reply when he didn't want to say too much about his life when he was still a kid.

She jumped and stood up on her feet. She held again her sword tighter, and this time she was the one to initiate the attack. She put a lot of her energy into her sword swings however, Jamal dodged them all. At a moment she threw a strike on his left but he just jumped aside and kicked her on the belly and she fell one more time on the ground.

" Stop moving like it is not a hand to hand fight. We are using swords, it's different from when you used to fight with your fists, " Jamal started to give his teachings. " Didn't you notice a difference in the way I'm moving? ".

Natasha tried to remember the previous training to compare them with the actual sword training. She wondered for a moment and then responded, " compared to when you used your fists and legs, you don't move your entire body all the way when you're using the sword, right? ".

" Exactly you have to be softer and use your super strength more wisely, " he replied, " if you got it then get up, we will continue ".

They spent all their time in the training until the sun was high in the sky.

Oddly, that day there was nobody from the other side of the barrier who tried to cross it. What was more suspicious. Even if they both noticed it, Jamal and Natasha didn't make the remark as they were too focused on the training.

What made Natasha the best of Jamal's students was not her powers, it was beyond that. It was her natural talent when it came to learning, she had a particular skill which permitted her to assimilate in only three to four hours something which would normally take four to five months of learning to completely memorize. Her body, after one or two repetitions, was able to completely assimilate a movement and reproduce it in the same manner, which was easier for Jamal to teach her.

Combined with her super-strength, that skill made her a formidable warrior. Besides her, Jamal met two other girls with similar talents and before he discovered that Natasha had such capacity, he had never imagined that he would meet another one again. It was a very shock for him the first time he figured it out, which was during one of his public fighting training, that particular and skillful student that he didn't notice immediately.

In the beginning, he only had some small doubts but nothing more. One day when he decided to clear definitively his suspicions, he showed to his students a very complicated move that his sister had taught him, and asked them to reproduce it. This move was one in a set of techniques so complex that beside him or his sister no one could ever copy but in only five tentative Natasha managed to reproduce it in the same way as Jamal. [How can it be possible] he had thought at that moment. After that, when he was fully sure about her potential, he especially took her as his apprentice.

" Well, I think it's enough for today. Let's go back " Jamal decided to end the practice.

" You tell me that only now I managed to crack your wooden sword, " Natasha complained. " You are such a sore loser ".

" For hours I have been kicking your ass, I'm just tired of winning, " he joked, " I even let you break it in purpose ".

" You are a liar, you just don't want to admit that I'm progressing too fast for you to keep up, " Natasha continued to argue while they were already on their way back.